On Jan. 17, former Olympic Nordic skier Hannah Halvorsen visited the Nordic ski team practice. Halvorsen, who is friends with the Nordic ski coach Chris Li, was the assistant for the Harvard Nordic ski team.
Halvorsen and Li first met each other at Li’s bike shop Bikeway Source. Halvorsen’s bike had broke after a car backed into it during a rolling ski practice – the Nordic ski equivalent of dry land practice – and she was recommended by the Harvard Nordic ski team to buy a bike from Bikeway Source. After visiting, Halvorsen and Li became friends.
“[Harvard] sent me to Chris, and he got me a new bike, and that’s how I first met him,” Halvorsen said. “He is just so into Nordic [ski] and such a great guy that he ended up helping with other key equipment needs or other bike needs. It’s just fun to talk about sports with him, so we just became friends.”
Prior to coaching at Harvard, Halvorsen competed in the Beijing 2022 Olympics before retiring right after.
“It’s not every day an Olympian walks into your shop to get fitted for equipment,” Li said.
After Li helped Halvorsen out with equipment, she offered to host a Nordic ski practice with Li’s Wayland High School Nordic skiers. Her first practice was in 2025 before the Nordic ski team’s state championship. She returned again this year to discuss how to prepare for league races, focusing on Nordic ski technique.
Halvorsen demonstrated some form drills that she used to do as a professional skier.
“I thought ‘so how can I give you a few things from more of an athlete’s mind of how you can play with [my advice] on your own time?’,” Halvorsen said. “Because I am only here for an hour.”
The practice was originally supposed to include professional Nordic skier Hailey Swirbul. However, her coach told her to get on the next plane to Germany for the World Cup. Swirbul will compete in this year’s winter Olympics in Italy.
One piece of advice Halvorsen gave athletes was to focus on their strongest skills on race days.
“I think it’s very exciting for kids just to have the opportunity to meet a role model in a sport they do,” Li said. “It is not often that you can go and have a one-on-one conversation with such a high level athlete.”
Halvorsen began competing in Europe when she was 15 and would go on to ski at world cups at 19.
“That first year at Harvard has to be one of my favorite years,” Halvorsen said. “I no longer had the pressure of racing, and I was ready for a break, but I still got to be part of the [Nordic skiing] community. I got to be around these incredible student athletes [on the Harvard Nordic ski team] who wanted to get better and they wanted to have a good time.”
In the fall of 2024, former WHS Nordic skier, Devin Wong, would fill in Halvorsen’s role as assistant coach on the Harvard Nordic ski team. Her two years on the Harvard Nordic Ski team was also spent coaching Wong’s sister, Tali Wong. Both D. Wong and T. Wong were athletes under Li.
“[D. Wong] was actually who I hoped would take the role when I stepped down,” Halvorsen said. “I was thrilled when I saw that. I thought that he would be a really good fit.”
Towards the end of the practice, Halvorsen would answer questions from WHS Nordic ski athletes, mainly concerning racing mindset.
“I just really like working with student athletes and skiers,” Halvorsen said. “I am thinking because my perspective is pretty broad. It’s not about who’s the fastest, that’s great if you are the fastest, but to be honest, I don’t really care. I really just like what you can learn from.”